


Greetings, Mr. Stone

by FemmeMalheureuse



Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: Gen, One-Shot Wonders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-26
Updated: 2013-06-26
Packaged: 2017-12-16 06:57:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/859194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FemmeMalheureuse/pseuds/FemmeMalheureuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While Mr. Gardiner is all that is good as a husband, father, uncle, and businessman, he is bolstered by a longtime friend who is everything Gardiner is not. Say hello to Mr. Stone. (Based on a one-off secondary character reference in Jane Austen's book, Pride and Prejudice.)</p><p>This is an excerpt from my soon-to-be-published P&P-based anthology.</p><p>[Image: Sketch of Ursin Jules Vatelle by Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres circa 1825 is the inspiration for Mr. Stone. (Image is in public domain.)]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Greetings, Mr. Stone

**Author's Note:**

> The following vignette actually represents the first chapter of a four-chapter PIP to be posted in the near future. This piece is unbeta'd, though pre-read — feel free to let me know in comments if you find any errors, they're all my fault and I'll fix them in a jiffy.

 

_August 14, 1812_  
 _Cheapside, London_  
  
Offering more than a nod and less than a half-bow, the dark-haired man greeted his business partner; he extended his hand as the maid took his hat and walking stick.   
  
“Mr. Gardiner, how are you today?”  
  
“I am well, Mr. Stone, well enough under the circumstances as I first related in my express on the seventh, but very glad to see you as always. I hope you bring news.” Edward Gardiner offered a similar gesture of respect and shook his guest’s hand. The formalities were a bit of a joke to lighten the mood between the two longtime friends.  
  
“I do have information for you, though it will not be pleasant.”  
  
“Yes, well, I believe we expected little else since we talked three days ago, considering the situation. Come, at least we can have some port or brandy to smooth off the rough spots.” Gardiner gestured toward his study. They were meeting away from the shop to prevent their staff from overhearing the nature of their discussion.  
  
“Please have a seat. I’ll dispatch a boy to Grosvenor Street.”  
  
“No need, Ed. I’ve already done so before I made my way here. You can expect more company in a matter of minutes. I’ll have some of your brandy if you don’t mind.”  
  
The men settled in, each with a tumbler in hand, chatting about the week’s business transactions as they waited.  


 

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

  
He had long envied Edward. His friend had a pretty and loving wife, beautiful children, and a pleasant home in addition to a thriving business. Any one of these would have been a blessing, but Edward had it all, and he was genuinely smart, fair, and decent, too.  
  
Edward also understood the ways of the  _Beau Monde_ , but cared not a whit for the lot of them. He lived his life on his own terms.  
  
Yes, Edward Gardiner was a man worth envying.  
  
In truth, Robert Stone should have envied no one. He was wealthy enough to intimidate the uppermost members of the merchant and educated classes. He was connected, if on the wrong side of the blanket, to Scottish peerage. Having loved his mistress and their illegitimate child, his Scottish lord-father ensured his natural son received a small estate with an income, along with a gentleman's education. Mr. Stone was otherwise unfettered by responsibility incumbent with titles and heredity, free to do as he wished.  
  
Along with a certain  _je ne sais quoi_ , these attributes made him a dangerous man.  
  
Stone went to school with Gardiner. Although not of the same class, they were of similar innate gifts when it came to business machinations. They were similar, too, in that they were related to peers but not of the peerage itself. They had to earn their way through life; they learned to respect intelligence, common sense, and hard work. The two men became fast friends because of their shared values. The character of their relationship made them natural business partners, more faithful to each other because of their mutual respect and trust than many married couples of the day.  
  
In spite of Stone’s many positive points, he had not found a woman he considered a worthy life partner. Far too many in the lowest levels of the peerage would consider him out of desperation, their family’s fortunes having been gutted by corruption or stupidity. These women were too often thrown at him; he couldn’t respect them. Just as many daughters of trades and professions were likewise pushed at him. Most were poorly educated, having been prepared for a life above their family’s heritage where useless skills like purse netting were appropriate. Many were poorly trained; they weren’t taught how to keep a home, let alone how to help with a business or a small estate. Nearly all of them were a nuisance to converse with as they were shallow or stupid, when not deliberately hiding their intellect as instructed by their mothers.  
  
Madeleine Gardiner and her two eldest nieces were the few women he respected. Unfortunately for Stone, Maddie found Edward’s open affability lovable; though he cared deeply for the Gardiners’ nieces, they were far too young. It wasn’t unheard of for a man of forty to offer for a woman half that age, but he still thought of the Misses Bennett as sweet, charming children.  
  
If Miss Elizabeth was ten years older he might have reconsidered his perspective. She was much like Maddie — whip-smart, quick-minded, pleasant to talk with, easy to look at, and utterly unspoiled. When in town she often helped Edward with the business’ books, entering bills of sale and payments, as well as auditing for errors. Miss Elizabeth also knew something about estate and home management, thanks to the unexpected combination of her father’s indolence and her Aunt Maddie’s encouragement. She was the model of the perfect wife for Stone, but alas, only a model.   
  
It was unfortunate that Miss Elizabeth as well as her fair sister Miss Jane and their aunt were not models of behavior for the rest of the Gardiner-Bennett family. Stone had met the Gardiner sisters before Edward married Maddie; he found them vulgar gossips who had not half the sense between them that their younger brother possessed. Both women had been very attractive young ladies, but their lack of personal initiative beyond nosey inquiry and spending money annoyed him greatly. The former Fanny Gardiner — now Mrs. Frances Bennet — had been just plain lucky to draw the attention of Mr. Thomas Bennet. Clearly it was passion that compelled the two to pair off, and little more. In the case of the former Meg Gardiner — now Mrs. Margaret Phillips — he knew of little more than the attraction of common business interests to inspire Mr. Frederick Phillips to marriage. Their lack of children may have reflected the lack of passion between them.  
  
And then the younger Bennet girls — horrors, the three of them, running from one extreme to the other. A moralistic monster in the making in Miss Mary, to a loose-lipped ladybird in Miss Lydia, with the cork-brained truckler Miss Kitty in the middle. Not one of them appeared to have the intellect the good Lord gave a dog. It was hard to believe these three came from the same dam as Misses Elizabeth and Jane.  
  
Yet Stone knew he was expecting rather much from a society which held both men and women to shallow standards — education was not expected uniformly, nor were good manners evenly distributed, regardless of class. He had been lucky his father thought well enough of him to insist on his education, considering his origins. The same, too, for Gardiner; he was not a gentlemen but the first son of a second son, excised from the gentry by accident of birth.  
  
Whatever he felt or believed was neither here nor there. His personal sentiments would not change the situation at hand.  
  
His friend’s youngest niece had fallen and hard. He owed it to his friend and the reputation of the very few women he respected to assist in the remedy.  
  
To that end he brought to bear his dangerous talents.  
  


 

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

  
_August 14, 1812_  
 _Cheapside, London_  
 _Very late evening hours previous day, or very early that same morning_ _—_  
  
  
Barnes rapped gently on Stone’s bedroom door. A muffled voice granted entry.   
  
“Your man is here, sir. I’ve seated him in the study.”  
  
Stone dressed quickly, throwing a robe over his open-necked shirt and trousers. He raced downstairs; no other staff save for Barnes were up and about yet at this pre-dawn hour.  
  
“What did you find?” He offered some whisky to his dark-cloaked visitor, who waved off the proffered liquid.  
  
“Just as expected, in the pub in St. Martin’s Lane, faring badly at cards. One of the boys was able to get into the same table and lose money to him, before persuading him to join a rout we set up in private rooms on Craven Street. We let him win enough to put some bread and ale on the table. The man is abominably bad at cards. If we had not encouraged him to drink too much, he surely would have noticed our efforts to allow him to win.”  
  
“Did he share any more information?”  
  
“He has no intentions of marrying the chit, which confirms your fears. He was a trifle desperate before we let him win. He made some noises about letting the girl work off his debt.”  
  
Stone shook his head. If Miss Lydia had been his daughter, he’d have simply paid to have Wickham dispatched and packed her off to a farm in Scotland. But there were other innocent lives affected by these degradations, some of whom he cared for, as well as the names and reputations of peers and gentry associated with these two sorry excuses for humanity.  
  
“No worries, sir. We’ve persuaded him to join us again at another rout at the same location. He’s won money there. He’ll be back now that he’s had a taste.”  
  
“Thank you. Let me give you some working capital to ensure he stays through the evening.” Stone pulled some ready cash from a drawer in his study. “And the girl?”  
  
“She remains fine, sir, a bit down at the mouth now and loud, but fine. We had someone dressed as a maid check in on her and leave a bit of food and wine. A bit of the wild, that one. She may prove more difficult than her banty cock bawd if she gets too restless. If she tries to leave you will be notified immediately.”  
  
“Good. Do let me know if we need more men. The colonel can call up more if the situation merits.”  
  
“We should be fine, sir. With our men and the few the colonel has already furnished, we have ample for these two mutton-heads.”  
  
Stone dismissed his man, who left through the rear of the house before the master went back to bed.  
  
Wickham has no idea who he was dealing with, Stone thought as slumber took him.


End file.
